Transcript Mary McLeod Bethune - Groovin into 3rd Grade

Mary McLeod Bethune
Education’s Champion
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Born near Mayesville, South Carolina
• While her parents and relatives had to deal with slavery
by the time Mary had been born in 1875 slavery had
ended.
• African Americans didn’t go to school with white children.
• As a child she was told that she couldn’t read a book by
a white child. She promised herself that some day she
would learn to read.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Soon after this experience a school was
started for African Americans.
• Mary remembered how she felt when she
was told that she couldn’t read.
• She worked hard to prove that the girl was
wrong.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• The school didn’t have a building. They had to meet in a
church.
• By the time she was 15 she had learned all she could at
her school. She was one of the few people in her
community who could read.
• She helped her older brothers and sisters learn things
too.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Her teacher visited her family and felt that Mary should
go to high school.
• She was offered a spot at a school in Concord, North
Carolina. The school was called Scotia Seminary.
• Mary jumped at the chance to go to school again.
Scotia
Seminary
Mary McLeod Bethune
• The whole community was so excited for
Mary that they stopped work to see her off.
• She had to go on a train from Mayesville
to Concord.
• Mary had never been on a train before.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Her school was a big brick building which Mary thought
was fancy. She had never been in one before.
• In fact her whole school was fancy with a bed all to
herself and knives and forks.
• Mary had grown up in a simple wood cabin and she
wasn’t used to all these things.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Since she wasn’t used to this type of life she
often made mistakes. She didn’t let those
mistakes stop her from working hard.
• She wanted to help others and she did by
helping the teachers clean their clothes and also
by baking cakes and breads.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• She was on the debate team: a team that competes by
making arguments for or against an idea.
• Since she listened and encouraged the other girls she
was soon seen as a leader.
• After she finished going to Scotia she went to Moody
Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. She wanted to become
a Missionary.
• She wanted to go to Africa to be a Missionary but the
churches didn’t send African Americans.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• She was sad that she couldn’t go but realized that
children could use her help here in the United States.
• She decided to become a teacher. She taught at a
school called the Haines Institute in Augusta, Georgia.
• It was a school for African Americans and the founder of
the school, Lucy Laney, helped Mary a lot.
Lucy Laney
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Mary wanted to start a school of her own.
• She decided to start one in Daytona
Beach, Florida.
• She started one there because there were
so many African Americans living there.
There were not enough schools there to
help them.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Despite having only $1.50 Mary worked long and hard
(diligence).
• People in the community helped Mary by donating
clothes, supplies, and their talents to help her school get
started.
• When it opened in 1904 there were only 5 students. By
1906 it had 250 students. She helped all learners: girls,
boys, and even adults.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• There wasn’t enough space so Mary had to find more.
• She had to work hard to earn money to buy more land.
• She asked the community and rode down dusty roads to
churches and clubs for help. Even if she didn’t receive
money she didn’t give up.
• Her school grew and grew and in 1931 became a
college.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Mary knew the importance of working together. She got
people to come together to help African American
women.
• The clubs were made up of volunteers: people who
chose to help in their communities without getting paid.
• In 1924 Mary became president of a group of African
American women who came from all over the United
States.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Segregation was still active during this time and white
women couldn’t sit with African American women.
• During the 1920’s she was asked by President Coolidge
and President Hoover to come to meetings of leaders
who wanted to help children.
• She understood their authority and agreed to come.
Coolidge
Hoover
Mary McLeod Bethune
• At the end of the 1920’s the depression hit. Many people
were without money and jobs.
• Franklin Roosevelt helped people during this time with
creating programs to help people earn money (The New
Deal).
• One program was the National Youth Administration
(NYA) which gave jobs to young adults and teenagers.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Eleanor Roosevelt had met Mary and knew she wanted
justice for all African American young people.
• Eleanor told Franklin about Bethune and she was asked
to work for the NYA. She was given the most
responsibility of any African American at this time.
• She moved to Washington, D.C. to help make sure the
NYA was helping African Americans.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Thanks to the NYA many young African Americans got
jobs which helped their families.
• In 1941 Bethune-Cookman College became a four year
college. Students could study all kinds of things.
• When the United States went to war in 1941 many
people who had worked in the NYA had training which
they used to help make equipment for the war.
• Mary was proud of all the things that she had done to
help so many people.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Bethune won many awards. Many universities and
organizations in the United States honored her hard
work for freedom and justice.
• She received the Medal of Honor and Merit from Haiti in
1949.
• She also got to go to Africa in 1952. While in Liberia she
was awarded the Star of Africa Award.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• Bethune died in 1955.
• Her college just celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2004.
• Her group, the National Council of Negro Women, is still
at work.
• In 1974 Bethune was honored with a statue in D.C. in a
public park the first women and the first African
American to do so.
Mary McLeod Bethune
• She worked hard for the youth of the
United States.
• A famous quote
– “All my life I have lived for youth, I have
begged for them and fought for them and
lived for them. . . My story is their story.”
Character Traits
• Diligence: Mary showed this by working so
hard for so many years to build a school.
• Respect for and Acceptance of Authority:
Mary showed this by doing what the
President wanted her to do.
• Justice: Mary wanted everyone to be
treated fairly and have a chance to
succeed.